Tips on Winter Care For Ducks in Colder Areas?

[llombardo]

I am in Illinois, weather is unpredictable. Snow is hit or miss but cold weather is unavoidable. I plan on taking the pool down in Oct-Nov(weather permitting) and they will have the five gallon heated bucket for a water source. I may have to add more buckets because DUH I didn't think about not being able to use the hose once it freezes. That 5 gallon bucket is way to heavy to carry from the house and add ice in there--I'm sure to fall.

A couple questions--can the salt that is safe for dogs be used around the gates so I have use of them? I'm going to guess that maybe ducks eat snow? Is there any preparation in the fall for the ground covering to avoid an awful mess once everything thaws? Does the food freeze if out there in extreme weather? I know feeding my rabbits greens and stuff that it froze pretty quick and was not worth the effort, so they get their pellets and Timothy hay in the winter.

Just trying to prepare myself for frozen water, gates and no frozen ducks.

 

[TheTwoRoos]

Ducks are hardy,just provide shelter.I don’t think the salt will effect them in any way.Yes,ducks eat snow.

 

[MoparGirl89]

Im in northern colorado so snow and cold are normal winter issues. We use a heat lamp in the coop and straw for a ground cover. For water we keep the pool up with a heater in it that is safe for plastic. When we had a spell of -2 to - 20 one week we did have to break ice on everyones water. We just give all flock crumbles in the winter as greens freeze and they didnt like them after that. We gave steamed flaked corn for a treat. We put straw down in the run. So they could get out and frolick around. They did eat the snow. We really had to watch their feet l, their webs are prone to frostbite. When they would start sitting on their feet more than walking we put them back in the coop with the heat on. They did well all winter even started laying eggs in January again.

 

[llombardo]

I won't be able to run the heat lamp for them. I can put straw in there for them to help keep warm.

Even putting the heater in the pool, how do you change or clean it? I do not foresee me out there when it's 0 degrees trying to clean out a pool.

I'm going to have electic cords everywhere(taped for the weather). I have to run one for each rabbit(4)--for heated water bottles, the chickens water and the ducks water)

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Can you put tarps up to keep some of the snow out of places it shouldn't be?
Maybe that pic you posted on the "How much time do you spend" was supposed to be here?

 

[MoparGirl89]

We only had to clean the pool once a week as they weren't in it much. My husband and i dumped it together and scrubbed it with a broom so we didnt have to freeze our hands with the cold water. We had electric cords everywhere. 5 total we used a construction splitter. That has 4 outlets.

 

[llombardo]

Can you put tarps up to keep some of the snow out of places it shouldn't be?
Maybe that pic you posted on the "How much time do you spend" was supposed to be here?

I do plan on putting tarps around most of the run. I posted that there then thought maybe start a thread.

I wish there was a way to keep the water not frozen from the hose. That would make everything easier.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

I do plan on putting tarps around most of the run. I posted that there then thought maybe start a thread.

I wish there was a way to keep the water not frozen from the hose. That would make everything easier.

Don't you have an anti freeze spicket connected on your house? I don't keep my hoses hooked up, but you can still draw water from the outside even in winter. Unless for some reason you don't have an anti-freeze hook up.

 

[llombardo]

Don't you have an anti freeze spicket connected on your house? I don't keep my hoses hooked up, but you can still draw water from the outside even in winter. Unless for some reason you don't have an anti-freeze hook up.

I do not. Will look into that.

 

[lomine]

I don't run a heat lamp. There are too many negatives in my opinion and they aren't needed in most situations. I have heated buckets for drinking water. I don't keep pools out in winter. I have a concrete mixing tube that holds about 10 gallons of water. On the warmer days I will fill that up so they can take a bath. Otherwise they just get drinking water. Biggest problem is trying to keep them from taking baths in the drinking water.